Machine Learning Fundamentals

This lucid, accessible introduction to supervised machine learning presents core concepts in a focused and logical way that is easy for beginners to follow. The author assumes basic calculus, linear algebra, probability and statistics but no prior exposure to machine learning. Coverage includes widely used traditional methods such as SVMs, boosted trees, HMMs, and LDAs, plus popular deep learning methods such as convolution neural nets, attention, transformers, and GANs. Organized in a coherent presentation framework that emphasizes the big picture, the text introduces each method clearly and concisely “from scratch” based on the fundamentals. All methods and algorithms are described by a clean and consistent style, with a minimum of unnecessary detail. Numerous case studies and concrete examples demonstrate how the methods can be applied in a variety of contexts.

Formal Models of Domestic Politics

Formal Models of Domestic Politics offers a unified and accessible approach to canonical and important new models of politics. Intended for political science and economics students who have already taken a course in game theory, this new edition retains the widely appreciated pedagogic approach of the first edition. Coverage has been expanded to include a new chapter on nondemocracy; new material on valance and issue ownership, dynamic veto and legislative bargaining, delegation to leaders by imperfectly informed politicians, and voter competence; and numerous additional exercises. Political economists, comparativists, and Americanists will all find models in the text central to their research interests. This leading graduate textbook assumes no mathematical knowledge beyond basic calculus, with an emphasis placed on clarity of presentation. Political scientists will appreciate the simplification of economic environments to focus on the political logic of models; economists will discover many important models published outside of their discipline; and both instructors and students will value the classroom-tested exercises. This is a vital update to a classic text.

Part III Innovation and Trade-Finance Challengers, 15 Islamic Trade Law and the Smart Contract Revolution

The history of Islam is inextricably connected to a celebrated history of trade and commerce which distinguishes it amongst monotheistic faiths. The modern incarnation of Islamic trade finance, however, bears only rudimentary similarity to the trade practices of old. Modern Islamic trade finance is devised to replicate conventional trade practices so that the barter-like immediacy of the Islamic contract of sale has been replaced with promissory attributes (wa’d). Yet Islamic law (sharia) has shown itself to be fully capable of adapting to modern trade practices so long as its major principles remain intact. The introduction of blockchain and smart contracts for Islamic trade finance does not change this basic calculus and yet these technologies promise to revolutionise Islamic trade practices in a way that compels the industry to operate in closer keeping with its commercial principles. Paradoxically, these technologies require substantive changes in the way in which Islamic trade finance is practiced, helping the industry to overcome its attachment to legal artifice (hiyal). Using comparative law methodology, this chapter briefly examines a short history of trade and commerce in the Islamic tradition, followed by the development of modern Islamic finance. It addresses the principles of Islamic commercial law as the basis for understanding the murabaha contract for trade finance, followed by an analysis of the legal and sharia-related issues that English courts have dealt with in the practice of Islamic trade finance. Finally, the chapter considers the transformative capacity of blockchain and smart contracts for Islamic trade finance, highlighting prominent legal and sharia-related issues that compel the industry to transform its trade practices markedly.

Analisa Kognitif Model Blended Learning Dengan Pendekatan Kalkulus Dasar

This research was motivated by the low learning outcomes of students in basic physics courses. This is due to the learning of basic physics which requires mathematical analysis in interpreting and analyzing the variables of physical quantities. The purpose of this study was to see the increase in learning outcomes as a result of the application of the blended learning model with the basic calculus approach. This approach is used because basic calculus can analyze basic physical substances through differential and integral languages. The sample of this research was students majoring in mining ISTP Medan. The research method used was a Quasi-experimental one group design. To see the learning outcomes, a learning outcome test is used and a gain test is used to improve learning outcomes. The results showed that the gain test at the first meeting was 0.6, the second meeting was 0.6 and the third meeting was 0.7 with the high category. From research result there is an increase in the gain for each meeting, it is concluded that there is an increase in student learning outcomes as a result of the blended learning model with the basic calculus approach.

Rubric as a learning tool in teaching application of derivatives in basic calculus

Rubric has been associated with the term assessment used for grading and/or scoring. However, it might observe less, but it is also designed as students ‘learning tool. This study was conducted to provide empirical facts on its effectiveness as a learning tool in teaching Applications of Derivatives in Basic Calculus. It used the quasi-experimental design called the pretest posttest design. The participants were the 96 students from two classes of Grade 11 STEM students at the University of Mindanao. The instruments used were the adapted and improved rubric designed from two different research, a 25-item teacher-made problem-solving test questionnaire that was used in both pretest and posttest to measure the performance of the experimental and control group. The test questionnaire and rubric were both validated by 3 experts in the field with a result of very good, and it has a good internal consistency. The data gathered were summarized, translated, and analyzed using the mean scores of pretest and posttest. Findings showed that both the experimental and control group showed improvement, however, the experimental group who used rubric as a learning tool showed more significant improvement than control group. Thus, using a rubric as a learning tool in teaching Applications of derivatives is effective in improving students’ academic achievement as it teaches students to develop their understanding of procedural knowledge.

Gestures, Embodiment, and Learning the Rate of Change

Many researchers have stressed the embodied nature of mathematical understanding. Here we explore how embodied knowledge may evolve as students learn a basic calculus concept: the rate of change. We examined undergraduate students with different levels of calculus knowledge working in pairs to model the rate of change in an everyday phenomenon. Our findings revealed substantial differences between advanced and introductory students in how they represented the rate of change with their speech and gestures. In particular, the advanced students’ embodied representations showed alignment with the formal symbolic process of integration and reflected more advanced ways to coordinate the relation between multiple changing variables. For example, advanced students often made gestures that represented a “disk” when explaining how the rate at which water rose in a bottle was related to the change in height. Thus, both introductory and advanced students demonstrated embodied knowledge through speech and gestures, but the advanced students constructed different concrete representations that reflected an advancement in their embodied knowledge. Our findings are relevant to calculus education and to the study of gestures in mathematics learning.